Monday, July 16, 2007

Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #37 - June 1983

sgStarting with this issue, Best of DC started it's unofficial Superman/Funny Stuff rotation. I guess this was DC's attempt at having it both ways--doing what sells(Supes) and then trying to re(capture) the ever-dwindling young kids audience with Funny Stuff, Suagr & Spike, and Binky.

As we'll see in the next few weeks, it must have worked for at least a little while, since this rotation scheme was in place for the majority of the rest of Best of DC's run.

Stories include:
Peter Porkchops in "Knights of the Round Table"
Doodles Duck in "Crystal Ball"
Three Mousketeers in "Out To Launch"
Dodo and Frog in "Magic Mischief"
Dizzy Dog in "Mad Hatter"
"Ma Nature's Curiosity Shop" (a cute fun facts page)
Stanley the Timid Scarecrow in "Fright-Fully Yours"
Doodles Duck in "Airplane Pain"
Peter Panda in "A Very Crooked Tale"
Nip and Chip in "Battling Bed"
Nutsy Squirrel in "Egg-Heads"
Bo Bunny in "Flyin' Fish"
Goofy Goose in "Land of Animathings"
Dodo and Frog in "Balloon Baloney"
Dizzy Dog in "Duel"
Stanely and His Monster in "Camp Cru-M-Bee's Pet Dog...Spot"
Three Mousketeers in "Name Droppers"

...take a moment to consider just how many different "funny animal" characters DC had at one time(and the above list doesn't even cover all of them!), and how completely they disappeared later on. How different a company DC must have been--a more diverse group of creators, all with different interests, strengths, and backgrounds.

Ah, I can picture it now--you toiled on a Dizzy Dog story in the morning, pitching it out with the guys and then laying out the story; breaking for lunch down at the Automat(mmm...mac and cheese!), then back to the office to start drawing the pages.

Sounds like heaven to me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is when the digests really started to lose their luster, IMHO. I have nothing against funny animal stuff, but my 8 year old self was far too sophisticated for this type of thing by then. :-)

I do wish they'd made a separate Funny Stuff digest, and left Best of more open for something other than just Superman.

Chris